A Random Shift in Time
by KittySister
Summary: Happens after all the other books. RandomFord
1. Default Chapter

            She was never in the right place. This was no different.

            She entered the bar, not sure how safe it was. The words "seedy" and "dangerous" shifted themselves around in her head and took on a new meaning; a meaning that was certainly more seedy and dangerous than before. She slipped into a dark table, hoping that the world would sort itself out and she would magically appear in the place she was looking for. Much to her disappointment, it didn't. Even more to her disappointment, she found the table to be already occupied.

            "It's just not fair," said the man who in no way resembled some one who was not drunk. "This is exactly the sort of thing that would happen to me."

            She didn't want to talk to him, didn't care that his life wasn't fair, in fact she just wanted to adjust her watch again and be on her way. Unfortunately, years of good etiquette had been drilled into her head, betraying her at the most inopportune times. "What is exactly the sort of thing that would happen to you?"

            "This. Here." The man made a gesture with his hand, a gesture that seemed to include everything that had ever happened.

            "Well, that certainly has a sort of general vagueness to it." She checked her watch again, it was a habit she had. No matter how many times she checked it, it never showed the time she expected it to.

            "Yes. Well. I suppose it does." He laid his chin on the table, inspecting the mug in front of him for leaks. He didn't find any, which seemed to surprise him. He sighed, closed his eyes reflectively, and tried to be less vague. "Have you ever seen a space ship?"

            "Not that I recall."

            "Then you didn't see any on your way here?"

            "That would follow suit."

            "Oh." A sad sigh. "Well, one might hope."

            "Hope to see a space ship?"

            "Yes, you're right, we should!" He leapt to his feet, taking her hand and rushing from the bar. The rest of her body followed helplessly, tied as it was to the hand.

            "Wait!" She rebelled, not sure what she had suggested.

            "Yes? Well, what?"

            "Where are we going?"

            "To look for a space ship, like you suggested." He blinked, slowly as if his eyes were not sure of the motion.

            "Like I suggested?" She tried to remember suggesting anything, failed horribly, then decided the night wasn't getting any worse. "Well, yes… okay. Any space ship?"

            "Well, I suppose any would do. A green one would be nice." His eyes traced the sky, as if there might be a green ship shooting by at any time. "Why, did you see one?"


	2. Waking up

            She didn't remember her named. She had never really had one.

            They had called her Random, among other things. She liked that. It sounded so much like her life. They had called her that because she would never show up in the right place at the right time. It was a joke she had never found funny.

            "They" were a conglomeration of everyone at Holy Heaven Orphanage. Random thought of them all as one large being, when she thought of them at all.

            She had lived there until she was sixteen, then she had left. Simply walked out one day, nearly two years ago, hoping her life would be better outside of the iron gates. She was wrong, but she tried not to think about it.

            Random decided that last night didn't rank anywhere near the top of her best decisions list, and could probably find a sky-rise home on the counterpart list. Spending the better part of the night searching for green space ships with a severely mad man was just not something Random could be proud of. Dragging his passed out ass home was another thing altogether.

            She was standing in his kitchen now, piecing together left over food into something that in no way resembled breakfast. She didn't even know exactly who he was.

            Random heard the pad of bare feet enter the living room, felt the stare of sleepy eyes on her. She looked up and smiled. "I made breakfast."

            "Breakfast?" He looked at her, coming closer. "You made breakfast?"

            "Yes."

            "From what? All that was in there was a cold pizza."

            "Well, yes. I didn't say it was traditionally." Random served a few slivers of peeled off, washed and warmed pepperoni. She added a piece of scrapped off crust to the plate and handed it to the man.

            "I see." He sniffed it. "Did you say it was edible?"

            Random picked at a piece of pepperoni. She was having serious doubts about it's edibility herself. "We could always eat out."

            "I don't feel like eating out." He tapped the crust against the plate. "We could order a pizza."

            "I don't feel like pizza."

            "Yes. Indeed. I know!" He tossed the plate into the trash. "We could eat out!"

            "I already suggested that." Random looked at the good plate laying in the trash. Shrugging, she let hers join it.

            "Yes, well… I wanted to be the one to ask you." He smiled, a smile that could have easily passed for a grin. "My name is Ford Prefect."

            "Ford?"

            "Yes."

            "Prefect?"

            "Indeed."

            "Interesting." She offered her hand. "I'm Random."


End file.
